Good news... dreaming of BEV Class A

JRscooby wrote:
Of course, will the E trucks need drivers?

Looks like the emerging regulation is to have the wheels "manned" even if only remotely so that there can be a manual override in case of glitches or emergency.

Controlled environment like small-city like factories or ports may allow totally driverless operations.

valhalla360 wrote:

For an RV cruising at 70mph, it may have drastically less range.

You'll get a ton of traffic tickets in the West Coast for this where speed limit is 55 mph. And high fees for these violations.

Some loads max out on gross, but many, maybe most, cube out first. And a whole lot of loads are less than full trailer, and under weight. Think of all the UPS package trucks. Called in to move them when weather would put them behind, never had over 32,000 on drives (5th wheel set for 12/34 split). I never knew what trailer tandem weighed.
I can see where electric would leave much to be desired for the "Any load, any road" or irregular hauler, (Or RVer) but for a terminal to terminal operation? Example, my truck did not do slip seat. I would pull into UPS, drop their wagon. 10 hrs later, they would have a load. (Go out, pay cash for fuel, so log book could show 10 hrs sleeping) If that was the only kind of work I did, and could plug in while sleeping? Of course, will the E trucks need drivers?

Yosemite Sam1 wrote:

Report was 500 miles on 75,000 lbs (80,000 lbs capacity). It's not independently verified though as it's Tesla's own tests.

Considering 80,000lb is the legal limit in most states and the battery pack will run around 15-20,000lb (that's in addition to the weight of the truck), you are looking at a lot less cargo capacity and trucking companies sell cargo capacity not total weight.

Of course, we also need to know, the speed that is based on. A truck going to the road at freeway speeds is mostly using power to overcome wind resistance. For a city bus that rarely gets over 35mph, wind resistance is pretty minimal. For an RV cruising at 70mph, it may have drastically less range.

Dale.Traveling wrote:

rk911 wrote:
Uh, there you go you naysayer you. I'm a full-fledged EV naysayer to the extent that EV's won't be practical till they have the cross-country range and can be "re-fueled" as quickly as a gas/diesel vehicle. When that happens I may be on board.

Exactly, if it's going to take in excess of 40 hours to recharge a depleted 500kW battery from a campground 12kW outlet then what is the gain? And does anyone really expect a long haul CDL driver to politely wait behind an RV to recharge his rig at the interstate off ramp super-duper charging station?

Exactly, Elon Musk whose whole battalion of brilliant people who was able to come up with a reusable rocket ship and had it land on a barge will be stumped by this problem of multiple recharging outlet for EVs. Yes sir, he will. Trust me.

rk911 wrote:
Uh, there you go you naysayer you. I'm a full-fledged EV naysayer to the extent that EV's won't be practical till they have the cross-country range and can be "re-fueled" as quickly as a gas/diesel vehicle. When that happens I may be on board.

Exactly, if it's going to take in excess of 40 hours to recharge a depleted 500kW battery from a campground 12kW outlet then what is the gain? And does anyone really expect a long haul CDL driver to politely wait behind an RV to recharge his rig at the interstate off ramp super-duper charging station?

JaxDad wrote:
I noticed the article referred to “semi-electric long haul trucks”.

The next article on the link actually talks of concept unit converting the Tesla semi to Class A RV.

mleekamp wrote:
Uh, that's a million miles of LIFE (before replacement), not of CHARGE. Article says nothing of how long a charge will last (days/miles/etc).

Just want to be clear on that.

uh, there you go you naysayer you. i'm a full-fledged EV naysayer to the extent that EV's won't be practical till they have the cross-country range and can be "re-fueled" as quickly as a gas/diesel vehicle. when that happens i may be on board.

I noticed the article referred to “semi-electric long haul trucks”.

When EV's become common, Drag Racing and NASCAR will be almost silent.
That will be weird.